RIKI
My little princess! I did not come to you sword in hand; I did not fight my
way from Kyushu to Koban. But I strove for you through forest, marsh and
mountain pass.--Within me throbbed a mighty song that I could not sing. I
saw almost all the world, it seems, and once I heard a voice that seemed to
call to me alone. It was at the ferry of Ishiyama. I followed the
sound--and there she stood all aglow in the morning sunlight. But when I
saw, the song still throbbed within my heart and I could not sing to
her.--Someone else called to me--"Hai! Hai! Hai!"
AOYAGI
And what of her--the vision at the ferry of Ishiyama?
RIKI
For all I know she may still be standing there in the morning sunlight all
aglow.--I have found you!
AOYAGI
And was she--fair?
RIKI
Ay--how can I say? Now all the world is fair because I see only you in
earth and sky and everything.
AOYAGI
She was aglow in the morning sun.
RIKI
How can I say? I heard her voice;--a song was in my heart--a song for
you.--I saw her--the song staid locked in my heart for you.
AOYAGI
Riki--Riki--
RIKI
A dream that's true.
AOYAGI
I do not understand it all.--Obaa-San--you--this happiness.--I have known
happiness, but not like this.--When I was in the weeping willow
tree--sometimes I was happy and sometimes I was hurt.--Oh, Riki, Riki, this
glade is like the weeping willow tree! Whenever the soft air sways the
leaves, I feel the same sweet joy as when the little breezes played amongst
my branches. The rain--oh, the gentle little rain that cooled me in the hot
summer--the drops that danced from leaf to leaf and felt like smiles upon
my face. Tears! The rain is not like tears, Riki.
RIKI
The dew is tears, perhaps.
AOYAGI
The dew! It came to me like a cool veil that the morning sun would lift and
little breezes bear away. Then sometimes--the voice, the loneliness of
Obaa-San.
RIKI
Look where her home lies. Far down there beyond that stream, see--there is
Kyushu.
AOYAGI
Oh, Riki, my Riki, my august lord, why, why can I stay here in happiness
with you when I know that Obaa-San is miserable and alone?
RIKI
I can not say? I only know that we are here--you and I--and we are happy.
Two make a world, Aoyagi. Why? How? I do not know.
AOYAGI
Can we not send a message to Obaa-San?
RIKI
Yes. I shall go down the mountain to the road and tell some passer-by.
AOYAGI
And I?
RIKI
Sit here and rest--and watch the silver stream at Kyushu.
AOYAGI
I shall wait--I shall wait.
RIKI
Sayonara.
AOYAGI
Sayonara.--Sayonara, my august lord.
[_Riki goes out. Aoyagi, left alone, feels the air in the old way. She
sways slightly in the breeze, then flutters toward the steps._
Oh, Kyushu! The silver stream at Kyushu!
[_She evidently sees the place where Obaa-San lives. Her eyes dim a bit and
slowly she hums the old lullaby_:
See, baby, see,
The ears of the wolf are long;
Sleep, baby, sleep,
Thy father is brave and strong.
Poor Obaa-San!
[_The Gaki appears._
THE GAKI
I have lost my way.
[_Aoyagi turns quickly, questioning him almost fearfully with her eyes.
There is something of the Aoyagi of the time when The Gaki bade her leave
Obaa-San._
AOYAGI
Whither are you bound?
THE GAKI
I am a stranger bound for Kyushu.
AOYAGI
There is Kyushu. (_She indicates the silver stream_)
THE GAKI
I am told there is a ferry on the way to Kyushu.
AOYAGI
Yes,--at Ishiyama.
THE GAKI
At--Ishiyama.
AOYAGI
Why do you speak so?
THE GAKI
I merely echoed your own words.
AOYAGI
I did not say them so terribly.
THE GAKI
What is in your heart came into your voice, perhaps.
AOYAGI
There is the way to Kyushu.
THE GAKI
Down that path?
AOYAGI
Yes. Did you not meet Riki?
THE GAKI
Riki?
AOYAGI
Yes, my august lord.
THE GAKI
I passed no one--except--a tall woman who was climbing slowly and singing a
wonderful song--which I had heard once near the ferry at Ishiyama.
AOYAGI
But Riki just left me here. You must have passed him on the way.
THE GAKI
The by-paths are many and the trysting places are secret--like this.
AOYAGI
Riki would take no by-path. My august lord needs no trysting place save
this.
THE GAKI
I do not know. I saw no Riki.
AOYAGI
My lord needs no trysting place. I am here. He knows I am here--waiting.
[_The Gaki looks at her._
THE GAKI
Riki?
AOYAGI
He knows I am waiting--
THE GAKI
Riki?--Oh, yes the name--I heard it--once--at the ferry at Ishiyama. He has
been there.
AOYAGI
Yes.
THE GAKI
A poet?
AOYAGI
Yes.
THE GAKI
He writes wonderful love-songs--they say.
AOYAGI
They?
THE GAKI
Yes,--the people at Ishiyama. I heard one.--It goes--let me see:
"Butterfly, butterfly, alight upon the willow tree--"
AOYAGI
He did not speak that at Ishiyama. He made that for me.
THE GAKI
I heard it, strange to say, at Ishiyama. Perhaps they brought it
from--where did you say?
AOYAGI
He made that for me only yesterday.
THE GAKI
And I heard it--yesterday--at Ishiyama. There the wonderful woman was
singing. (_She looks at him_) The one I passed just now.
AOYAGI
That is a mistake.--You are wrong.--I know my--Ah! what is it here--that
hurts me, tears me, seems to choke me! Riki!--I am all in all to him--he
told me that.--He can not make poems for another.
THE GAKI
I should not have told anything.--Forgive me.--I did not know.--To speak
truth is deep in my heart.--I have no gracious subtleties.--I am sorry--
AOYAGI
In the valley there is a mist. I can no longer see the silver stream at
Kyushu.--Who are you?--I am afraid!--Riki--Riki--
[_There is no answer._
THE GAKI
He does not seem to hear.--I shall go to meet him. He went this way, you
say?
AOYAGI
Yes.--There is a mist in the valley and I can not see the silver stream at
Kyushu--
[_She does not see The Gaki who goes in the direction opposite to the one
Aoyagi has indicated._
Oh, the little day--the little day--of love beyond love.--Riki--my mother,
Obaa-San.--Yesterday the mountain-top gleamed like the topmost heaven in
the spring sunlight. Today--the valley dies in mist and the mountain-top is
lost in the sky.
RIKI (_coming in singing_)
Hai! Hai! Hai!
RIKI
Aoyagi!
AOYAGI
I must go back to Obaa-San, my mother.
RIKI
What has happened, Aoyagi?
AOYAGI
We came up the mountain path side by side, Riki. Without question I gave
myself to you.
RIKI
Aoyagi!
AOYAGI
I gave my love--my love beyond love. I believed.
RIKI
Why not believe?
AOYAGI
Your first words were--"You are she!" I did not question. And now--
RIKI
Oh, my little love, was I gone too long?
AOYAGI
My love knows no time, Riki.--You were gone--how can I say?--ages.
RIKI
It was ages, too, to me, Aoyagi.
AOYAGI (_softening_)
I watched the silver stream at Kyushu--and I waited.
RIKI
What, are those tears?
AOYAGI
Nothing, Riki--but I feel so far away--from Obaa-San.
RIKI
She can bridge the distance with her heart. A mother can always bridge all
distance with her heart.
AOYAGI
Hai!
RIKI
Our happiness is all she wants.
AOYAGI
Our happiness--(_bitterly_)
RIKI (_He goes to her. She moves away_)
Why--
AOYAGI
The silver fishes--
RIKI
What has happened, Aoyagi?
AOYAGI
Did you send the message to Obaa-San?
RIKI
Yes.
AOYAGI
Did you go down the path?
RIKI
Yes.
AOYAGI
Did you pass a stranger on the way?
RIKI
No.
AOYAGI
A stranger just came by.--He came up the mountain path.
RIKI
I crossed the stream.
AOYAGI (_She takes a deep breath_)
You crossed the stream.
RIKI
Aoyagi--little sweetheart--I cannot understand.--What do you mean?
AOYAGI
Oh, Riki, Riki, I am so alone. Tell me what--why--why--
RIKI
Aoyagi, was I gone too long? Has some demon come to you?
AOYAGI
No demon came. You were gone too long.
RIKI
I went down the path and crossed the stream to take a shorter way. I met a
stranger--
AOYAGI
Singing?
RIKI
Yes--I think she was singing.
AOYAGI
_She_ was singing.
RIKI
What do you mean, Aoyagi?
AOYAGI
Who was she?
RIKI
I do not know.--She said she would pass Ishiyama.
AOYAGI
Where did you see her?
RIKI
Beyond the stream--in a little glade.
AOYAGI
Did she sing your song?
RIKI
My song? No.
AOYAGI
Did she know your songs?
RIKI
Aoyagi! What do you want to know?
AOYAGI
Did she know your song to me--"Butterfly, butterfly, alight upon the willow
tree"?
RIKI
Perhaps.--I made that to you years ago--when you were a dream in my heart.
AOYAGI
At Ishiyama?
RIKI
Perhaps.
AOYAGI
Hai!--Obaa-San, my mother!--Oh, my heart--my heart--
RIKI
Aoyagi--what have I done? Let me comfort you!
[_He goes to her._
AOYAGI
You leave me nothing in all the world.
RIKI
I give you all my world.
AOYAGI
Hai! Hai! Hai!
RIKI
Let me go and call the lady bound for Ishiyama.
AOYAGI
Riki!--ah!
RIKI
Little Aoyagi--my love--she will be tender with you.--And when your tears
are gone, she'll bear your message on to Obaa-San.
[_He goes to her, but she draws away. For a moment he is uncertain what to
do;--then--he speaks._
I'll bring her back to you.
AOYAGI
Riki!--No!--We came up the mountain-path together--side by side.--We--but
now, Riki, we go two ways.--I to Obaa-San--you to--
RIKI
What do you mean?
AOYAGI
Go sing your songs at Ishiyama! Go make your poems to the butterfly.--I--
RIKI
I have made songs only for you.
AOYAGI
But the songs for me are on every tongue.
RIKI
Ay--I am proud of that.
AOYAGI
The lady at the ferry at Ishiyama--
RIKI
She learned the song to you!
AOYAGI
Ah!
[_Aoyagi rushes upon him and before she realizes what she is doing, she
strikes him. He stands petrified a moment, then faces her very calmly._
RIKI
I shall find the stranger-woman and send her to you.--I can no longer help
you.
AOYAGI
You can no longer help.--Oh--life--oh, love--this too short day--
RIKI
I shall stay near at hand until you return to Obaa-San.
AOYAGI
I shall find the path alone.
RIKI
I'll send the stranger-woman to you.
[_Riki goes out._
AOYAGI
Hai! Hai! Hai! I watched the sunrise only yesterday and I trembled with the
wonder of the dew-cooled dawn. Life seemed all peace and--today--I have
known a mother's love and my mother.--I have known a lover's touch--love
beyond love.--I am waking from a dream. The Gaki said I'd waken--I'd be as
free as one in life. Oh, what is this thing they call life? No happiness
complete--a vision of a mountain top--a climbing to the goal--a bamboo
glade--oh, the mist at Kyushu.--When I go back to Obaa-San--I shall love
her so--but oh, the memory of Riki--the mountain gleaming in the sun--
[_She starts sadly from the path. The Gaki enters._
THE GAKI
Lady, I am here again. It seemed to me that I must return to you. Something
seemed to call. (_Aoyagi almost collapses_) I feed! I feed!
AOYAGI
I can not go!
THE GAKI
You seem to suffer.
AOYAGI
Oh--I have lost my way in life--
THE GAKI
Lost your way in life? Let me help you.
AOYAGI
I have stood on the mountain side and I have seen the green valleys far
below.
THE GAKI
Talk to me--as you would to yourself.--I hear but I shall not speak what I
hear.
AOYAGI
Riki--no, I can not speak even to myself. Deep in me there is a hurt.--I
can not tell--
THE GAKI
A woman gives all;--the man forgets.
AOYAGI
But to Riki--he knows--I brought him my full belief--my all-in-all.
THE GAKI
Your perfect faith.
AOYAGI
Ay, my perfect faith.--He spoke to me and then I bowed to my august
lord.--I followed him without question.--And he forgets so soon.
THE GAKI
Are you sure he has forgotten?
AOYAGI
You know--you saw the lady from Ishiyama.
THE GAKI
True.--I saw her.
AOYAGI
You did not meet him on the path.
THE GAKI
True.--I did not meet him on the path.
AOYAGI
He crossed the stream.
THE GAKI
Perhaps to shorten the way.
AOYAGI
He met her in a little glade.--Hai!
THE GAKI
What shall you do?
AOYAGI
I'll go my way. I'll return to Obaa-San.
THE GAKI
I'll guide you down the mountain side.--Come, we'll take the shorter
way--the by-paths--across the stream--through the little glade--
AOYAGI (_She looks about once more at the scene of her happiness_)
Hai!
THE GAKI
Come!
AOYAGI
No, let us go down the path.--I want to see my footprints--side by side
with his.
THE GAKI
Perhaps they're being crushed under the feet of the lady from Ishiyama!
[_Aoyagi starts a moment as though to fly along the path before the lady
comes.--She sways slowly--and then falls in a pitiful little heap.--The
Gaki takes her in his arms and, utterly triumphant, starts up the
mountain-side._
We'll go up--up--sweet Aoyagi, to the snow peak--gleaming in the
sun.--You'll find the mountain-top--not lost in the sky.--Your perfect
faith!--Oh, you silly human--oh, futile love--climb, Aoyagi--climb without
love.--But first we'll make footprints for the lover's eyes.--Blindness
will lead him to the mists at Kyushu.--Jealousy will lead you to the lonely
stars.
[_He holds Aoyagi so that her feet touch the ground--toward the downward
path. Then with a wild laugh, he turns toward the mountain top. As the
laughter dies, the voice of Riki is heard calling_
Aoyagi! Aoyagi!... Oi!
[_The laugh of The Gaki is heard once more very far away--as he ascends the
mountain with his burden._
RIKI
Aoyagi!--Aoyagi!
[_Riki comes running in. Presently he sees the footprints._
Oi!--Aoyagi!
[_He runs down the path._
Aoyagi!--Aoyagi!
[_Far, very far away The Gaki's laugh is heard._
RIKI
Aoyagi!--Aoyagi!
[_Night has fallen slowly._
Aoyagi!--Aoyagi!
_The Curtains Close._
ACT III
_Before the House of Obaa-San_
[_It is moonlight. As the curtain opens, Obaa-San is heard singing the
lullaby; from the distance the voice of Riki calls._
RIKI
Aoyagi!--Aoyagi!--Aoyagi!--Aoyagi! Oi!
[_Obaa-San appears in the doorway._
Aoyagi!
OBAA-SAN (_She goes toward the voice_)
Oi!
[_Riki enters._
RIKI
Obaa-San! Where is Aoyagi?
OBAA-SAN
Where is Aoyagi?
RIKI
Is she not here?
OBAA-SAN
She is not here. Where--Riki!
RIKI
I left her in the bamboo glade--and when I returned she was gone. Her
footprints pointed toward the path--and then were lost.
OBAA-SAN
Why did you leave her?
RIKI
I left her because she--I left her.
OBAA-SAN
I do not know, Riki, what has come to pass--but this I know--I am waiting
for her.--I am waiting for her. Go seek for her--and bring her back to me.
RIKI
I shall search for her.--Obaa-San, she--
OBAA-SAN
I care not what she did. I am waiting here for her.
[_Riki looks at Obaa-San a moment and then understands._
RIKI
Aoyagi!
[_He goes out. Obaa-San turns to the empty house--the empty willow tree._
OBAA-SAN
She will come back to me.
[_She goes into the house. The Gaki enters._
THE GAKI
Foolish Riki! He searches in the valley. Mad Aoyagi! Alone with the lonely
stars!--Oh, wondrous misery that makes itself.
[_He sees Obaa-San. She enters from the house._
Good-morning, Obaa-San, my friend.
OBAA-SAN
Good-morning, traveller.
THE GAKI
Why do you rise before the dawn?
OBAA-SAN
I could not rest.--Why are you not at Kyushu?
THE GAKI
There is a mist at Kyushu--and I feared to lose my way.
OBAA-SAN
Did you pass a little lady--Aoyagi, by name--alone--
THE GAKI
It seems--I met a little lady.--She was not happy.--That one?
OBAA-SAN
Where?
THE GAKI
I am a stranger here--I cannot say. Over there--or over there.
OBAA-SAN
She will come to me, perhaps.
THE GAKI
Do you know her?
OBAA-SAN
She is my daughter,--Aoyagi.
THE GAKI
Do you not fear for her?
OBAA-SAN
Perhaps.--She will be here soon.--Riki has gone for her.
THE GAKI
She must know the way.
[_The voices of O-Sode and O-Katsu are heard._
This has been a restless night for age. (_He disappears. O-Sode-San and
O-Katsu-San enter_)
OBAA-SAN
Good-morning, O-Sode-San. Good-morning, O-Katsu-San.--The lily hands of
sleep have passed you by.
O-KATSU-SAN
A strange unrest has seized upon me. I think--and think of my little one.
She is glorious in my heart, and words with wings seem to flash before my
eyes like fireflies in the darkness.
O-SODE-SAN
I, too, have lived in words.
O-KATSU-SAN
Obaa-San, is it not wonderful to put a joy or pain in words?
OBAA-SAN
Ah, yes--if there is anyone to hear them. All my long, long years before
Aoyagi came to me, my heart sang, and words freighted with my dreams and my
love would come to me--here; and they would die because they found no ear
attuned to them.--Tell me what you thought, O-Sode-San.
O-SODE-SAN
The moon in calm restlessness
Shows the water grasses of the River of Heaven,
Swaying in the cool spring air--
I know the time to meet my lover
Is not too far away.
OBAA-SAN
Every one has a poem in his heart, I believe.--What was your poem, O-Katsu?
O-KATSU-SAN
Oh, messenger of the other world,
My little one is young;
She can not find her way--
Do you kindly take my little one
Upon your warm, broad back
Along the twilight path.
O-SODE-SAN
And you, Obaa-San,--was it words that kept sleep from your eyes?
OBAA-SAN
Ay, bitter dream-words. And for the bitterness I am paying dearly.--Over
and over the words came to me:
Here lies my daughter's sleeping body
On the mat beside me.
But her soul is far away
Asleep in her lover's arms--
And I, her white-haired mother,
Hold only an empty shell.
Oh, I am ashamed--ashamed.--And just now Riki came to me--and told me he
could not find Aoyagi.
O-KATSU-SAN AND O-SODE-SAN
Hai!
O-SODE-SAN
Can we not search for her?
OBAA-SAN
I am waiting here.--She may find her way back.--I would not have her come
to an empty house.--Come--let's go within--and dream that yours and yours
and mine are on their way to us.
[_The old women go into the house. There is just a moment's silence--then_:
AOYAGI
Hai! Hai! Hai!
[_Aoyagi, utterly forlorn, enters. She looks at the house, turns and sees
the mountains, covers her eyes, and drags herself wearily to the willow
tree. She moans as though winter had fallen upon the world and were
taunting her. The Gaki enters._
THE GAKI
So you have found your way--in life.
AOYAGI
Oh, let me go back to my tree!
THE GAKI
No, little Aoyagi--you would be happy then.
AOYAGI
Let me die!
THE GAKI
One can not die.
AOYAGI
Hai!
THE GAKI
Where have you been?
AOYAGI
So far--so far!--I am weary.--When I awoke, I was on the
mountain-top--alone.
THE GAKI
Were there no stars?
AOYAGI
Oh--the stars, the lonely, lonely stars! I tried to touch them--they seemed
so near.--I found the path--the glade--our footprints--strange people--I am
here. Let me back! Let me back!
THE GAKI
And what of Riki?
AOYAGI
He does not care.
THE GAKI
And what of Obaa-San?
AOYAGI
What can I give to Obaa-San now--but misery? Am I never to be free?
THE GAKI
What would you do if you were free--climb to the mountain top to see the
lonely stars?
AOYAGI
Hai!--Riki!--Obaa-San!
[_Obaa-San enters. The Gaki disappears._
OBAA-SAN
Was my name spoken in the dawn?
AOYAGI
Mother!
[_With a cry of joy, Obaa-San enfolds Aoyagi in her arms._
OBAA-SAN
Nadeshiko! My little girl!
AOYAGI
Where is Riki?
OBAA-SAN
He has gone to search for you.
AOYAGI
Was he alone?
OBAA-SAN
Alone?
AOYAGI
Yes. Was there no woman with him--a lady from Ishiyama?
OBAA-SAN
A lady from--
AOYAGI
Yes--tall--fair--singing--
OBAA-SAN
He was alone. A lady from Ishiyama--(_Aoyagi shudders with dread_) brought
me a message in the early night--
AOYAGI
It was she--young?
OBAA-SAN
No--old.
AOYAGI
Had she seen Riki?
OBAA-SAN
Yes. On the mountain-side--
AOYAGI
The stranger said she was young and fair.
OBAA-SAN
Perhaps the stranger did not see with honest eyes.
AOYAGI
He would not lie.
OBAA-SAN
Sometimes the eyes and the ears lie.
AOYAGI
Ah!
OBAA-SAN
And if she had been young and fair?
AOYAGI
Riki met her in a glade.
OBAA-SAN
Did you see them meet?
AOYAGI
No--she was singing.
OBAA-SAN
A happy song, perhaps.
AOYAGI
She sang the song he made to me.
OBAA-SAN
How do you know?
AOYAGI
Riki said she knew his song to me.
OBAA-SAN
Ah, that is beautiful, that she should love his song to you.
AOYAGI
He--
OBAA-SAN
My little darling, I do not know what really happened; but this I know, you
did not speak fairly to Riki or Riki did not speak fairly to you. Almost
every unhappiness comes because we speak too much of our pride and speak
too little of our hearts.
AOYAGI
I asked him if he saw her.
OBAA-SAN
Why?
AOYAGI
A stranger told me--
OBAA-SAN
Was it the stranger you believed before Riki could defend himself?
AOYAGI
But, mother, I gave my all in all to Riki. He does not care.
OBAA-SAN
Do you know?
AOYAGI
I asked Riki if they met?
OBAA-SAN
Did he tell you?
AOYAGI
He seemed to be proud to tell.
OBAA-SAN
Then he was unashamed to tell--
AOYAGI
I asked him questions.
OBAA-SAN
But did you ask him the great question in your heart?
AOYAGI
Oh--
OBAA-SAN
Did you say, "Riki, my love, you are in all my heart. Am I in all yours?"
AOYAGI
He told me that.
OBAA-SAN
And did you believe?
AOYAGI
Above all the world!
OBAA-SAN
Then why doubt him later?
AOYAGI
The lady from Ishiyama passed by.
OBAA-SAN
My child, a lady bound for Ishiyama passed by! Had she been singing all the
love-songs of all the worlds; had she been fairer than the lotus-flower,
why should you have doubted Riki?
AOYAGI
A stranger--
OBAA-SAN
A stranger!--a stranger!--Oh, why--why--why do the eyes of love grow blind
because a stranger speaks? You, Aoyagi, did not see the lady bound for
Ishiyama. You did not hear her song--and yet upon the ears and eyes of a
stranger you would shatter your love.--I saw the lady.--She was
singing.--She was not fair.--If she had been--Oh, my little child--Riki is
Riki, your august lord, the lord of your life. When he comes back, go to
him and speak from your heart.
AOYAGI
What shall I say?
OBAA-SAN
I need not tell your heart.--It is only your head that can not learn to
speak unprompted.--Do you love Riki?
AOYAGI
Ay--so dearly!
[_The voice of Riki is heard._
RIKI
Aoyagi!
AOYAGI
He is coming!
[_Obaa-San, unnoticed, goes into the house. Riki enters._
RIKI
Aoyagi!
[_When he sees she is safe, he drops suddenly. She goes to him._
AOYAGI
Riki, my august lord, listen to my heart.--Forget my anger.--Tell me once
again that you love me.--I'll believe.
RIKI
You know--I have always loved you.--When you were a song in my heart, I
loved you so! And now--
AOYAGI
Oh, Riki, can we ever forget the blow I struck?
RIKI
That was yesterday--see, this is today: the dawn has spread across the sky.
What shall we do? Look back upon the bitterness of yesterday, or try to see
the fears of tomorrow, or live in the gladness of today?
AOYAGI
The Gaki of Kokoru is here at the tree. He will not let us live in
happiness. He let me go with you because he meant to feed upon the misery
of poor Obaa-San.
RIKI
He has not come upon us yet. We are struggling against tomorrow. This is
the dawning of today.
AOYAGI
Then shall we live--today.
[_Obaa-San enters from the house._
OBAA-SAN
Come, Aoyagi; come, Riki. We have found happiness at our door. Within there
is rice and tea. Come.
[_They go into the house. The Gaki enters._
[Illustration: THE LADY OF THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE
ACT III.]
THE GAKI
There is love!--Now what shall I do for misery? Old Obaa-San remembers
happiness. She has taught O-Katsu and O-Sode to remember happiness. The
lovers are reunited;--now they understand.--And I--I, ah, I must die in
this dread shape and stay in this hell through all the eternities unless I
bring new misery to them. What can I do? (_He turns to see the tree_) Ah--I
shall kill the tree--slowly--slowly--and I'll feed upon them all. Aoyagi is
bound to the tree as one is bound to his body in a dream.--I'll kill the
tree.
[_He draws his short sword and smites the tree. There is a cry from the
house and Aoyagi enters quickly, followed by Riki, Obaa-San, O-Katsu-San,
and O-Sode-San. Aoyagi holds her heart._
RIKI
Aoyagi! (_She droops in his arms. Obaa-San lays her hand upon her dear
child's head. O-Katsu-San understands. The Gaki in triumph smiles again.
Aoyagi cries out and shudders as she clings to Riki_) Oh, whatever power
gave strength to me and led me to my love, give me the chance to save my
love.
AOYAGI
The tree!--The tree!
[_The Gaki smites again._
RIKI
The Gaki of Kokoru! Ay, I know! I know! I fight a fear, Obaa-San. Hold
Aoyagi fast--with all your love.--I shall find the Gaki of Kokoru! (_The
Gaki smites the tree again and again, and at each stroke Aoyagi fails more
and more until she finally crumples in a heap among the three old women_)
All strength! All faith to me! Into my hands give the power to break the
bitterest hell asunder! Into my eyes put light that I may see the cowardly
fears that infest our way.--Gaki! Gaki! where are you?--I pass about you
and in my heart I carry fearlessness and faith.--Upon your wickedness I
hurl belief.--Ah, now, I see you.
THE GAKI
Let me go! Let me go!
RIKI
You shall bring misery into no more hearts!
THE GAKI
Ah, pity me! Let me go! I must feed or I shall die!
RIKI
You shall feed no more!
THE GAKI
Do not let me die in this sixth hell! Do not let me die! Once I was
human--like you and you. I came into this hell because I was bitter in
life.--I made misery for others.--I put mischief in their minds.--
RIKI (_leaping upon him_)
You shall make no more misery.
THE GAKI
Let me feed! Let me live! I can not die thus.
RIKI (_throttling him_)
Dread demon, the end has come!
THE GAKI
Please--please--hear me.
RIKI
Nay, you have made your last horror in our lives.
OBAA-SAN
Riki! Hear him--hear him.--We know not what we do, perhaps.
RIKI
Then speak.
THE GAKI
Let me go! Do you think it did not punish me to see your misery, to bring
misery upon you? That is what these hells are. In life we can not always
see what wretchedness we make; in the hells we see and know and understand,
but we can not escape our evil until we've sucked the bitterness, the
horror to the blackest end. Oh--five hells lie between me and human life.
In each I may perchance forget the lesson learned before. Let me live! Let
me live!--I can not fight your faith!--Let me live!
RIKI
What further harm will you do?
THE GAKI
I cannot help myself. I must live on you.--You are young--
[_He tears himself from Riki and once more rushes to the tree. Aoyagi
writhes a moment in agony. Riki leaps upon The Gaki, throttling him once
more. The struggle is terrific._
RIKI
Die!
THE GAKI
Let me go! Let me live!--I promise anything--I--
RIKI
Too late!--You shall harm no more!
[_With one supreme effort, The Gaki draws himself to his full height and
seems about to crush Riki. He leaps upon the prostrate Aoyagi and flings
her body high above his head. Riki starts for him._
THE GAKI
I shall live! I shall live!
RIKI
Aoyagi!
THE GAKI
Come not near me, Riki, or I shall crush her at your feet. I _shall_ live!
[_He laughs the hideous laugh of triumph which rang out on the mountain
side yesterday._
OBAA-SAN
Give her back to us! Feed on me!
THE GAKI
In your heart there is only hope and beautiful memory. Old fool, I can not
feed on you.--But now in my arms I hold the precious gift by which I shall
pass from hell to hell.
O-KATSU-SAN
Take me!
THE GAKI
Silly old woman, you, too, like Obaa-San, can not feed me. Age learns to
grasp at bubbles and pretend that they are stars.
O-KATSU-SAN
But I shall dream of my little girl.
THE GAKI
Ay, dream of her and have tender memories that are not pain.
O-SODE-SAN
I shall think of him and long for him, my lover.
THE GAKI
Ay, and in the memory of the firefly fete you'll make a poem that will
leave you all melting-like and holy--then where shall I feed?
RIKI
Obaa-San, are you content? I'll let her die at my own hand before I'll let
him live.
[_He draws his dagger and leaps toward The Gaki; but old Obaa-San is too
swift for him. She catches his hand._
OBAA-SAN
Riki! Would you kill the evil by killing the joy of us all?
RIKI
But the joy--my little Aoyagi--can not live so. See--
OBAA-SAN
O Gaki of Kokoru--I stand before you, no longer a suppliant. I am old and
in my years I have known all the wanting, all the hopelessness one can know
in life. But in your evil way, you brought to me a moment of happiness
yesterday and in that moment I saw the beauty that I had always believed
must be and yet that I had never known. In your evil arms you hold the
treasure of my life--you hold the songs that filled the heart of Riki. But
you do not feed, oh, Gaki of Kokoru. You can not feed. Oh, Gaki, what is
this sixth hell of yours?--Who made it? Some man who was afraid of the joy
of life;--it was too beautiful for his belief. Misery makes itself: so
happiness makes itself. You stand before us, holding the darling of our
dreams, but there is no misery so great as yours. See! I stand before
you--unafraid--and in my heart lies happiness.--Aoyagi rested in my arms
and my breast is warm and there is a glory where her dear head lay. In my
life--if you take her from me--there will be an emptiness.--There will be
long silences in the days to come; but my breast will still be warm with
her touch and my ears will still hear the sweet words you cannot unsay--the
lullaby I sang.--Oh, Gaki--it has been sung to her.--The climbing to the
mountain gleaming in the sun--the glade where love found the perfect
mystery--that cannot be undone whether we live or die.--Love that has been
can never be undone.
[_The Gaki looks from one to the other, but finds only that splendid
happiness that is almost pain. He loosens his hold upon Aoyagi and turns to
Riki with her._
THE GAKI
She is yours!--I have met perfect faith.--Five hells lie before me--but I
have met a perfect faith.--You cannot know what wonder I am knowing. From
the sixth hell I have seen a perfect faith.--I am content to die in this
shape. Strike, Riki!
RIKI
I have my love.
THE GAKI
But a peace has come upon me, a peace that I have never known.--I seem to
be on wings--afloat in the sky.--Stars and suns swing gently by--and cool
clouds brush my brow.--Five hells lie before me.--Can it be, in each I
shall find peace like this?--(_He falls on his knees_) Now a fire rages
deep in me--a pain--I'm torn.--Oh, Obaa-San, I die--I die.--Come to
me--touch me--let me feel your gentle hands.--So! So!--I have never known
such gentleness.--Oh, I am cold--cold! Hold me--
[_He rises--sways--and falls. It is full day. The Gaki rises wonderfully._
Obaa-San--I see--I see.--The hells were made by some man afraid of the joy
of life.--It was too beautiful for his belief.--Riki--Aoyagi, there is the
mountain gleaming in the morning light.--Go--see your footprints side by
side.--A Gaki's feet trod upon them, but left no mark--and they are there
side by side.--O-Sode-San, I look across the River of Heaven;--there stands
your lover waiting for you--an empty boat is here to bear you to
him.--O-Katsu-San,--the messenger of the other world bears your little one
upon his broad, warm back.--They are smiling, O-Katsu-San--Obaa-San--
[_He points to Riki and Aoyagi. Obaa-San goes to them and lays her hands
upon them._
OBAA-SAN
My little girl!--my little boy!--Today the sun is very bright.
_The Curtains Close._
THE VERY NAKED BOY
AN INTERLUDE BEFORE THE CURTAIN
CHARACTERS
SHE
HE
BROTHER
_The scene is half way to a proposal._
_A hallway with a heavily-curtained doorway in the centre. Right of this
are two chairs with a tabouret between them. Right and Left are curtained
arches._
_She enters quickly, crossing to the chairs._
HE (_following breathlessly and almost colliding with her as she stops_)
Genevieve!
SHE (_with a calmness strangely at variance with her entrance_)
Well?
HE
Why did you--
SHE
I didn't.
HE
I beg your pardon, you may not have known it, but you did.
SHE
I didn't.
HE
If you'll only say you didn't mean it.
SHE
I didn't _do_ it.
HE
Now, Genevieve, you know--
SHE
I didn't.
HE
Well, why did you--?
SHE
_I didn't do it!_
HE (_meltingly but without humor or subtlety_)
Well, if you didn't do it, _dear_--
[_She is adamant._
Why did you run away the moment I came up to you?
SHE
I didn't run away--
[_He looks at her quizzically._
I just _came_ out here.
HE (_hoping it isn't true_)
But you seemed to be trying to avoid me.
SHE (_with sphinx-like indifference_)
Why should I avoid you?
HE
Genevieve! You make it impossible for me to talk to you.... I'll apologise
if it will help.
SHE
Why should you apologise?
HE
Perhaps I've misconstrued your meaning.
SHE
I didn't mean _anything_--
[_He smiles pleasantly with more hope than discretion._
--because I didn't do it.
HE
Now, Genevieve, I saw you do it.
SHE
You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Gordon, from further discussion.
[_She seats herself, fully prepared for all the discussion she can force
from him._
HE
But, Genevieve--
[_He seats himself._
SHE
I didn't do it--and besides if I _did_ what difference does it make? I'm
free white and twenty-one.
HE (_with a frail attempt at humor_)
How old did you say?
SHE
I said I was free white.
HE
But, Genevieve, you must admit that--
SHE
Mr. Gordon!
HE
_Please_ call me Henry. (_In his emotion he pronounces it Hennery_)
SHE
I don't see why I should.
HE
You did last night.
SHE
That was different. You were Dr. Jekyll last night.
HE
Oh, Genevieve--
SHE
You're showing your true colors tonight.
HE (_appealingly_)
I'm--sorry--
SHE
You're a tyrant.
HE
I don't mean to be. I think you're wo--
SHE
Now don't be personal. I'm not interested in your thoughts.
HE
But, Genevieve, won't you tell me why you did it?
SHE
I did it because--I've told you often enough I _didn't_ do it.
HE (_bitterly_)
Joe--
SHE
Joe--what?
HE
Joe squeezed your hand.
SHE
Well, it's my hand, and besides I don't see why I should be
cross-questioned by you.
HE
You know I'm--
[_He leans toward her and she moves away._
SHE
You're what?
HE
I'm crazy about you.
SHE
Please, Mr. Gordon!
HE
Call me Henry! Just once.
SHE
I don't see why I should.
HE
Please, Genevieve.
SHE
Now don't be silly!
HE
Oh, Genevieve, if you only knew how it hurt me when you did it!
SHE
_Did_ it hurt you?
HE
I could have killed Joe--gladly.
SHE
Honest!
HE
You know--you must know!
SHE
You certainly are calm about it.
HE (_in the most absurd position that hopeless love can twist a man into_)
What can I do? I can't be ridiculous.
SHE
Did you really see us?
HE
Yes, I saw you.
SHE
You seemed terribly tied up with Ethel.
HE
I had to sit by her.
SHE
I don't see why.
HE
I didn't have any place else to go.
SHE
I knew you were looking.
HE
Then why did you do it?
SHE
Don't ask me why. I loathe why.
HE
But oh, Genevieve, I love you so!
[_He grasps her hand, not too violently. She gasps slightly, smiles
pleasantly and becomes stern._
SHE (_encouragingly_)
Please, let go of my hand.
[_He does so. She looks at him in mingled wonder and chagrin._
HE
Genevieve, isn't there any chance for me?
SHE
I've never thought of such a thing. What do you mean!
HE
I mean I love you.
SHE
... Yes?
HE (_taking her scarf in his hand_)
Aren't you interested?
SHE
Why, really, Mr. Gordon, you ask such strange questions.
HE
Oh, Genevieve--Genevieve--
[_He kisses the scarf gently._
SHE [_looking at him in wonder, disappointment and delight._
Don't be silly.
HE
When a man's in love he always does silly things.
SHE
Always?
HE
Oh, Genevieve--
[_He reaches for her hand reverently and this time she seems content to let
matters rest._
SHE (_making conversation_)
I have the next dance with--
[_She racks her memory._
HE
Joe, I suppose.
[_He rises and crosses to the far side of the centre arch._
SHE (_drawing her scarf about her and brushing against him as she passes._)
Excuse me, please.
HE (_torrentially_)
You shall not go. You _shall_ listen to me. You have no right to treat me
as a plaything when I love you so! I love you so! I love you so! I think of
you all day long, I lie awake at night wondering what stars are looking
upon you and I find myself envying them--every one of them.
[_She tries to speak, but he presses her head against his shoulder._
I won't listen. You must hear me out. I've waited days and days and days
for this chance to speak to you, and you've trailed me about
like--like--like a poodle. I'm tired of it because I love you so.
[_She tries to speak again; but succeeds only in mussing her hair._
HE
I want you to marry me, and marry me you shall if I have to carry you away
with me. Oh, Genevieve, my darling Genevieve, just know that for this
moment I am almost completely happy. You are close to me and I do not feel
any struggle against me. Oh, if you will only listen to me, I do not mean
to be brutal. I have torn your dress. I have mussed your precious hair.
But I love you so! I love you so!
SHE
Oh, Henry--Henry--You are so wonderful!
[_They embrace one long moment when an arm comes out between the curtains
and tugs at his coat._
_He lets go of her as though he had been shot, turns and sees the naked arm
and the top of the Boy's head._
BOY (_whispering_)
Get her out of here!
SHE
Oh, Henry, Henry, have I been cruel to you?
HE (_constrained_)
We'd better go.
SHE (_looks questioningly at him_)
Please let's stay here.
[_He presses her head against his breast and looks surreptitiously at the
curtains._
_The Boy makes as though to get out._
_He starts violently--shoves the Boy back._
SHE
I saw you first--do you remember--at Poughkeepsie.
HE
Yes, yes--
SHE
I think--I liked you then.... But I never thought you'd be so wonderful.
HE
Let's go (_whispering_). Darling, let's go.
[Illustration: THE VERY NAKED BOY]
SHE
No, I want to stay here. I love this nook.
[_He laughs nervously as she crosses to the curtains._
I should love to fill it full of great tall lilies.
[_By this time she has become lyric and swept her arms against the
curtains: with a cry, rushing to him for protection._
Henry, there's a man behind those curtains!
HE
I think we'd better go.
SHE
Oh, Henry, you're not going to leave him here.
HE
We'd better.
BOY [_poking his head and a naked arm through the curtains._
Yes, you'd better, because I'm going to get out of here.
SHE
_Bob!_ You get your clothes on!
BOY
I told Mr. Gordon to get my clothes.
SHE
Mr. Gordon--
BOY
Call him Henry--just once--please, Genevieve.
HE (_stiffly_)
I'll get your clothes. Where are they?
BOY
In my room.
HE
What do you want?
BOY
Everything.
SHE (_straightening up_)
Don't be common, Robert.
[_He starts for the door._
HE
No, I'm not going.
SHE
Hen--Mr. Gordon!... Very well. I'll go!
HE
No, you won't go either!
SHE
Please!
BOY
Well, I'll go.
[_Boy moves as though to part the curtains. She screams a stifled little
scream and both he and she rush to the curtains to hold them together._
SHE
Oh, Bob, if you won't get out I'll do anything for you.
BOY
Well, I'm cold.
SHE
Mr. Gordon, please go.
HE
I won't go!
SHE
You are very strange, indeed.... I'll go!
[_She nears the door--Stops._
SHE
Never mind.
BOY
Oh, Henry, it's Ethel.
HE
Bob, won't you be a good sport? We'll turn our backs.
BOY
But will everybody else turn their back?
HE
Old man, can't you see how it is? We're--we're going to be engaged--and
Ethel is out there--and--and--well--
BOY
Joe's out there, too.
HE
Well, yes.
SHE
Bob, I shall tell Father on you.
[_She starts._
BOY
All right, go ahead. I'll tell Ethel.
SHE
Just wait.
BOY
I'll get out of here!
[_Again the two rush precipitately to hold the Boy in place._
HE
Bob, be a man! You are childish and common. You are old enough to know
better and I think it's an outrage for you to subject your sister to this
fright. We can't go out of here just now--and you're making it very
embarrassing for us.
SHE
Mr. Gordon--there's a cape in that closet. Will you get it for Bob.... He
says he's cold.
[_He goes to the closet._
SHE
Bob, I'll get even with you. You ought to be ashamed. I'm humiliated.
BOY
Why--Sis?
SHE
Imagine my being with a gentleman and having a very naked boy pop into the
conversation.
[_He returns with the cape._
HE
Here's the cape.
[_He tosses it over the Boy's head and suddenly leans over and kisses her._
BOY
Why don't you smother me!
[_Boy begins to emerge._
SHE
Bob, be careful.
[_He and She turn away._
_The Boy rises and as he does so the cloak falls about him until, when he
steps out of the curtains, he discloses trousers and shoes._
BOY
I can't go through the hall looking like this.
SHE
You must.
HE (_turning_)
Go away, Bob. Your sister is very nervous.
[_He sees the boy fairly well clothed. He gasps._
HE
Why--
SHE
Bob--
[_Turning she sees the boy fairly well clothed._
I thought--How did you--Why didn't you--What were you doing in there?
BOY
Father was going to get strict and keep me off the water tonight and just
as I came down here to get my sweater I heard him coming to the coat room
so I jumped behind the curtains and let him pass and then Joe and Ethel
came in and I couldn't let them see me this way. And then somebody else
came and then you came in--well, I got cold.
HE (_looking out_)
Run on now, Bob, the hall is clear.
[_Boy starts._
BOY
What was it you did, Sis?
SHE
I didn't do it.
BOY
Why didn't you do it?
SHE
I didn't do anything.
BOY
He said Joe squeezed your hand.
SHE
Absurd!
BOY
Well, I hope not, because he and Ethel got engaged in here too!
[_He and She look fondly at each other and He murmurs_, "Genevieve" _as he
reaches out for her_.
_The Boy begins to sing, "Oh, Genevieve, Sweet Genevieve," and they become
aware of him, turning upon him and pursuing him with a warning cry of_
"Bob."
_The End_
JONATHAN MAKES A WISH
A PLAY IN THREE ACTS
CHARACTERS
AUNT LETITIA
SUSAN SAMPLE
UNCLE NATHANIEL
UNCLE JOHN
JONATHAN
MLLE. PERRAULT
HANK
ALBERT PEET
MARY
JOHN III
ACT I
JONATHAN MAKES A FRIEND
[_The scene represents the lumber room in the carriage house on John Clay's
suburban estate. The room is crowded with old trunks, paintings, barrels,
boxes, chests, furniture showing long residence during slow epochs of
changing taste. Everything is in good order and carefully labelled. At the
right of the room is a door opening onto the stairs which lead to the
ground floor. A small window is set high in the peak of the gabled end up
centre. At the left a chimney comes through the floor and cuts into the
roof as though it had been added by Victorian standards of taste for
exterior beautification. An open stove intrudes its pipe into the chimney.
The single indication of the life of today having touched the place is the
studied arrangement of an old rosewood square grand piano. The keyboard is
uncovered. On the top is a tiny theatre--a model masked and touched with
mystery, according to early adolescent standards. Two benches stand in
front of the piano, and the piano stool is meticulously set in place. A
flamboyant placard leaning against the music rack announces:_
TODAY
ZENOBIA
A tragedy in ten acts
by
Alexander Jefferson, Sr.
_The light in the room is dim, although it is quite bright out of doors.
There are two low windows which are heavily barred. The little theatre is
so arranged that when the manipulator stands on the box to work it, his
head can be seen over the masking._
* * * * *
_The curtain rises disclosing an empty room. Presently laborious steps are
heard on the stairs and a key is turned in the lock. Then Aunt Letitia
enters followed by Susan Sample. Aunt Letitia is a motherly old woman who
has been in the Clay home for many years. She may have preferences, but
like the buildings on the estate, she stays where she is. Susan Sample is a
tall, slender girl of fourteen with a very gentle manner and a way of
looking at people that indicates a receptivity rarely met in one so old.
Letitia goes to one of the trunks marked E R in large white letters and
unlocks it._
LETITIA
Here they are, my dear. Help me with the hasps.
SUSAN
What does E. R. really stand for, Mis' Letitia?
LETITIA
E. R.... That's a secret, Susan, that little girls aren't supposed to
know.
SUSAN
I won't tell.
LETITIA
But what good would that do, my sweet? Please open the windows.
SUSAN (_opening the window and returning to her question_)
No one would know you told me.
LETITIA
I would know. Yes, I would know that I had told somebody else's secret.
SUSAN
Whose secret is it? Please.
LETITIA
I've been living in this house for thirty-five years, Susan, and I've known
the secrets of all the boys and girls from time to time.
SUSAN
You know mine, too.
LETITIA
And I've never told one of them, either.
SUSAN
Does old Mr. John ever have secrets?
LETITIA
_Old_ Mr. John! For shame!... Of course he has secrets.
SUSAN
I wish I knew some of his, Mis' Letitia.
LETITIA
My dear, you never will know them. John is very quiet.
SUSAN
Who in the family didn't have any secrets at all?
LETITIA
Oh, they all had secrets when they were young. Nathaniel had _fewer_ than
any of them and...
[_Her words are lost tenderly in a memory._
SUSAN
Why hasn't he ever come back home?
LETITIA (_as she busies herself with the contents of the trunk_)
That is his secret, Susan, and we mustn't ask too many questions. Nathaniel
is coming today. I won't ask any questions.... He was a fine young man.
Yes, he's coming back today, my dear. He was the baby of the family.
SUSAN
How old is he now?
LETITIA
You little chatterbox! Between you and Jonathan I have to fight to keep
anybody's secrets.
SUSAN
Does Jonathan ask many questions?
LETITIA
When we're alone he does. He's just like his Uncle Nathaniel. God bless
him!
SUSAN (_seeing a costume in the trunk_)
Oh, isn't that just wonderful!
LETITIA (_holding the costume up for Susan to see_)
_That_ is what you can wear in the pageant, my dear Susan.
SUSAN (_taking the costume_)
Oh! Oh! Oh!... I wish I knew whose it was.
LETITIA
Would that make it any prettier?
SUSAN
No, but I'd like to know just the same.... Was it E. R.'s?
[_A cry is heard outside_, "Aunt Letty! Aunt Letty!"
LETITIA
Oh, Susan, it's Nathaniel! It's my boy. Here I am, dear.
[_She has an armful of costumes which she drops nervously._
SUSAN
Mis' Letitia, I believe you love him best of all!
LETITIA
No, I don't, but I always understood him, I think.
[_The voice below calls again_, "Where are you?"
Come up here, my boy. Come up to the lumber room.
[_Steps are heard on the stairs, young eager steps, and Nathaniel Clay
bursts into the room. He is an eternally young man of thirty-five, who has
touched the dregs and the heights of the world and remained himself._
NATHANIEL [_taking Letitia in his arms, then holding her from him as he
inspects her._
Aunt Letty! Not a day older.... But oh, so wise.
LETITIA
Nathaniel, my boy, my darling, darling boy.
NATHANIEL
Now, now. Don't cry.
LETITIA
My boy, my boy. My splendid boy.
[_Susan has forgotten her costume in her admiration for Nathaniel. She puts
it down on the bench in front of the piano._
NATHANIEL
And this is--
LETITIA
This is Susan Sample.
NATHANIEL
Not--
LETITIA
Yes, time has been flying, Nathaniel. This young lady is Mary Sample's
daughter.
NATHANIEL
How do you do? I can't believe it. You were only a little pink cherub up
there in the sky when I ran--
LETITIA (_hurriedly interrupting him_)
Yes, Susan was born three years after you went away.
NATHANIEL
Oh!... And, Aunt Letitia, you've opened Emily's trunk!
LETITIA
Yes, Susan is going to be in a pageant.
SUSAN
Who was Emily?
NATHANIEL
She was--
LETITIA
Nathaniel dear, you must not satisfy her curiosity.
(_To Susan_)
You go find Jonathan, dear, and tell him that his uncle is here.
(_To Nathaniel_)
I'll put these things away, and we'll go into the house.
SUSAN (_reluctantly_)
Good-bye, Mr. Clay.
NATHANIEL
Good-bye, Susan. You'll come back, won't you?
SUSAN
Oh, yes. Good-bye.
NATHANIEL
Good-bye.
[_Susan goes out._
LETITIA
She hates to go. She's never seen anyone just like you: and I have only
seen one.
NATHANIEL
Who's Jonathan?
LETITIA
He's the one.... He's Emily's boy.
NATHANIEL
You mean Emily--
LETITIA
No, no, my dear. Emily was married, left the stage. She wasn't happy. The
boy was her only comfort.
NATHANIEL
He's my nephew. Why, I'm Uncle Nathaniel. Oh, Aunt Letty, I'm getting to be
an old man!
LETITIA
Nathaniel, Jonathan doesn't know about his mother. I sent Susan away
because I didn't want her to associate these things with Jonathan's
mother.
NATHANIEL
My God, Emily didn't do anything wrong.
LETITIA
Well, she was an actress.
NATHANIEL
And a good one, too.
LETITIA
Yes, yes, dear. All that has been talked over many times, but John is the
head of the family and he doesn't approve of the stage.
NATHANIEL
So! John is still himself.
LETITIA
John is austere, Nathaniel. He is a Clay through and through and he holds
to the traditions of the family.
NATHANIEL
I remember the traditions, Aunt Letitia.
LETITIA
I never oppose John. He feels that he is right. But it _is_ very hard
sometimes to live up to his rules.
NATHANIEL
Has he rules?
LETITIA
Well, he has ideas, dear--much like your father's. We might call them
rules.
NATHANIEL
Where is Emily?
LETITIA
Two years ago, Nathaniel.
[_There is a moment's silence._
NATHANIEL
Did she ever go back to the stage?
LETITIA
No. John forbade it.
NATHANIEL
And John is still forbidding.
LETITIA
John is the head of the family.
NATHANIEL
So.... The Clay family is still an absolute monarchy.
LETITIA
Nathaniel, dear, will you promise me--
NATHANIEL (_with a smile_)
I'll try.
LETITIA
Will you promise not to antagonize John?
NATHANIEL
Will John antagonize _me_? I came back to see my home--to see you, my dear
aunt. But I am a grown man now.
LETITIA
Won't you try to be patient? It will be pleasanter for me. And I have
waited so long to see you, Nathaniel. There are seventeen very, very long
years for us to talk about. Let John have his way.
NATHANIEL
Well, I'll try for a few days. But I give you warning, my ideas have been
settling during the past few years, too.
LETITIA
Remember, he is used to being obeyed just as your father was.
NATHANIEL
Yes, I remember that, dear Aunt; but John isn't my father. He is just a
brother to whom fate gave a fifteen years' start by birth.
[_As a voice calls_, "Nathaniel, are you up there?" _Nathaniel looks at
Letitia._
NATHANIEL
His voice is just the same. (_Calling_) Yes, John, I am up here.
[_The antagonism between the two brothers is apparent immediately._
_John Clay enters. He is an austere, pompous man of fifty who has the
softness of the tithe-collector and the hardness of the tax-collector. He
speaks with an adamantine finality which is destined to rude shattering._
JOHN
How do you do, Nathaniel?
NATHANIEL
I am very well, I thank you, John. How are you?
[_They shake hands perfunctorily._
JOHN
You arrived ahead of time.
NATHANIEL
Yes.
JOHN
We haven't met for seventeen years.
NATHANIEL
No. I've been away, John.
JOHN
Where have you been?
NATHANIEL
I shall be here for two weeks, John, and if I should tell you all about
myself today, I should have nothing to talk about tomorrow.
JOHN (_severely_)
You haven't changed, Nathaniel. You are still frivolous.
NATHANIEL
I shall be serious when I am your age, brother.
JOHN
I came out here to ask you to be very careful of your conversation before
the children.
NATHANIEL
The children?
JOHN
Yes, my two grandchildren.--
NATHANIEL
Grandchildren! My, that makes me a great uncle. I _am_ getting old, Aunt
Letitia!
JOHN
I do not care to have them or Jonathan hear about any revolutionary or
other unusual ideas.
NATHANIEL
I shall try not to contaminate the children and Jonathan. How old are the
children?
JOHN
Mary is four and John 3rd is two.
NATHANIEL
I shall try to spare their sensibilities.
JOHN
They may not understand you but they will hear.
NATHANIEL (_to Letitia_)
How old is Jonathan?
LETITIA
Fourteen.
NATHANIEL
The impressionable age.
JOHN
The silly age.
NATHANIEL
Brother John, no age is the silly age. Fourteen is the age of visions and
enchantments and fears. What a boy of fourteen sees and hears takes on a
value that we cannot underestimate. Most men are defeated in life between
fourteen and twenty. At fourteen a boy begins to make a lens through which
he sees life. He thinks about everything. Ambition is beginning to stir in
him and he begins to know why he likes things, why he wants to do certain
things. He formulates lasting plans for the future and he takes in
impressions that are indelible. Things that seem nothing to old people
become memories to him that affect his whole life. The memory of a smile
may encourage him to surmount all obstacles and the memory of a bitterness
may act as an eternal barrier.
JOHN
Nathaniel, are you a father?
NATHANIEL
No, John, I am only a bachelor who is very much in love with life in
general and one lady in particular.
JOHN
You can know nothing of children, then.
NATHANIEL
I remember myself. Most men forget their younger selves and that is fatal.
JOHN
One would think to hear you talk that the most important things in life
were a boy of fourteen and his moorings.
NATHANIEL
One might know it.
JOHN
You are still the same impractical theorist.
NATHANIEL
I am the same theorist--a little older, a little more travelled. The
trouble with you, John, is that you think no age is important except your
own. You always thought that, even when you were fourteen. Oh, I know I
wasn't born then, but I know you.
JOHN
Did you come back to your home in order to lecture me?
NATHANIEL
No, no, I beg your pardon. I came back to see my home and Aunt Letitia and
the children--and you, and I--I think--Jonathan.
JOHN
Nathaniel, when your letter came telling me that you had decided to come
back to see us, I was going to ask you not to come--
NATHANIEL
I gave no address.
JOHN
But on second thought, I made up my mind to forgive you--
NATHANIEL
Thank you.
JOHN
To let bygones be bygones.
NATHANIEL
That is the better way, brother: let the dead past bury its dead.
JOHN
Why did you run away from home?
NATHANIEL
Because we couldn't agree, John.
JOHN
I was older than you; my judgment was mature; I was the head of the family,
in my father's place.
NATHANIEL
We didn't speak the same language. I wanted something out of life that you
couldn't understand; that my father couldn't understand. I determined to
get it by myself.
JOHN
Well?
NATHANIEL
And so, I ran away.
JOHN
Leaving no trace, no word.
NATHANIEL
Oh, yes, I left a very important word--"Good-bye."
JOHN
You were willing to leave all the work of our father's business on my
shoulders.
NATHANIEL
You were willing to take it all. And I wanted my freedom.
JOHN
You were selfish and heartless.
NATHANIEL
Selfish? Because I had my life to live and meant to live it?
JOHN
You should have told us where you were living.
NATHANIEL
I preferred to work out my salvation alone, without interference. My going
away gave you a free hand. John, don't tell me that you were not overjoyed
that my flight gave you all my father's fortune.
JOHN
It was my duty as head of the family to protect you.
NATHANIEL
I didn't ask for protection. I wanted understanding.
JOHN
A boy of eighteen must not be allowed freedom.
NATHANIEL
Perhaps not, John, but he must be allowed to grow toward his goal. Eighteen
is not too young for a man to fly through the air in defense of his
country, or you. The burden of the world today is on the shoulders of men
from eighteen to eighty, share and share alike.... I wanted to be a
writer--
JOHN
And our brother Henry wanted to be a musical composer and our sister Emily
wanted to be an actress! A fine putout for the leading commercial family of
this state!
NATHANIEL
Well, John, our brother and our sister have paid the final penalty. They
have died. Henry left a handful of worthless little tunes and Emily left a
trunkful of costumes as monuments to their folly. And now Emily's boy is
here under your wing.
JOHN
He's a dreamer like all the rest of you.
NATHANIEL (_with interest; tenderly_)
Yes?
JOHN
He spends all his leisure time playing with that fool toy there.
[_He points to the model theatre._
_Nathaniel smiles and crosses to the piano and lifts the cloth that covers
the theatre; then he looks at the placard and laughs joyously._
NATHANIEL
"Zenobia." " Alexander Jefferson, Sr."
JOHN
He pretends that's his name--Alexander Jefferson, Sr!
NATHANIEL
People like to have other names. Look at all artists--like writers,
pugilists, and actors, and base ball players. And the Sr. Is an effort to
appear older.
JOHN
Well, I'm breaking him of all that nonsense. I allow him only a certain
number of hours for play. Emily used to spoil him and it's been a task to
conquer him.
NATHANIEL
Jonathan is fourteen. When I was fourteen--What are Jonathan's tastes?
JOHN
He reads all the time and he wants to write plays and poetry; but I am
conquering that silliness.
NATHANIEL
I think I am going to like my nephew. John, I'll come into the house
shortly. I think I'll look at this toy a moment and I'll get Aunt Letitia
to show me some of Emily's things. A mere matter of sentiment.
JOHN
Now don't put any foolishness into the boy's head.
NATHANIEL
I promise you I sha'n't try to change the boy's head, brother.
JOHN
I play golf from five to six.
NATHANIEL
Oh, you've taken up athletics?
JOHN
The doctor's advice. Will you join me?
NATHANIEL
Thank you, no.
JOHN
Very well. I'll see you at dinner.
NATHANIEL
Thank you. (_John goes out. Nathaniel looks musingly at Letitia who has
been sitting silently on Emily's trunk, knitting, Nathaniel crosses to her
and sits on a stool at her feet_) Does John always talk to you so much,
little church mouse?
LETITIA
I have been a poor relation for thirty-five years, my boy, and to be a
successful poor relation, one must learn the art of silence.
NATHANIEL
No wonder I ran away!
LETITIA
But you should have written to me.
NATHANIEL
Perhaps--I should--yes--I should have written, but I didn't. You see, Aunt
Letty, I was a sensitive boy. All my life I had dreamed of doing my own
work. I saw Henry disappointed in life, I saw Emily made miserable enough
through the traditions of the family. John couldn't understand me and I
couldn't understand him. There was no common meeting-ground. John was the
head of the family and so deeply was the idea of submission to rule
ingrained in me that I could think of only one way out of my restraint. I
wouldn't study engineering, and I wouldn't continue at Somerset School.
Well, I ran away from my ancestral castle to find my way in a new world. I
think I have found it.
LETITIA
Jonathan doesn't want to study engineering, either.
NATHANIEL (_Looks closely at her a moment and then smiles_)
As Ibsen would say--Ghosts! (_He walks toward the window_) Poor John!
LETITIA
Poor Jonathan!
[_At this moment Jonathan enters the room. He is a slender boy of fourteen
with a deep problem in his eyes. When he smiles before his elders, which is
seldom, he seems always prepared to restrain the smile. His voice is just
changing and this adds to his reticence. He has a tremendous capacity for
expressing wonderment and, as usual with one of his type, he is capable of
great displays of temper. He gives the impression of thinking about
everything he sees. He is at the age of wonder and only custom prevents the
world from becoming the promised land of visions and enchantments._
NATHANIEL
Poor Jonathan!
[_He turns and sees the boy._
_The two stand face to face for a moment. For Nathaniel it is the first
moment of a new relationship. For Jonathan it is a moment of uncertainty.
He has heard himself called "Poor Jonathan" and he is facing another male
relative._
_Jonathan looks first at Letitia, then at Nathaniel and then at Letitia._
LETITIA
Jonathan, this is your Uncle Nathaniel. Nathaniel, this is Emily's boy.
NATHANIEL (_Holds out his hand which Jonathan takes very shyly_)
Jonathan!
JONATHAN
How do you do, sir?
NATHANIEL
How tall you are!
JONATHAN (_quite conscious of his short trousers_)
Yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
I didn't take you away from any studies, did I?
JONATHAN
No, sir.... I was just writing something when Susan called me.
NATHANIEL
May I ask what you were writing?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir....
[_He swallows._
... A play.
NATHANIEL
A play! _Zenobia_?
JONATHAN (_Looks quickly for some indication of laughter in Nathaniel's
eyes_)
Yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
It's a tragedy, isn't it?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
In ten acts.
JONATHAN
There may be only eight.
NATHANIEL
Then I know who you are! (_Jonathan looks at him in surprise_) You are the
celebrated dramatist, Alexander Jefferson, Sr.
JONATHAN
Did Aunt Letitia tell you?
NATHANIEL
No, sir. I read it on the billboards. (_Jonathan laughs with a catch in
his breath_) And I should like to attend a performance, Mr. Jefferson.
JONATHAN
It isn't finished yet.
NATHANIEL
Well, when am I to see this theatre?
LETITIA
Your Uncle Nathaniel and I shall come together.
JONATHAN
You've seen all the plays.
LETITIA
That doesn't make any difference. I'd like to see them again.
[_Jonathan looks at her to be sure she is in earnest. Then he smiles._
JONATHAN
I'll finish _Zenobia_ for tomorrow.
NATHANIEL
Agreed! Can you get the scenery ready?
JONATHAN
I painted it last week.
LETITIA
You must have the orchestra, too, Jonathan.
JONATHAN
Yes, ma'am. Susan has some new pieces.
NATHANIEL
Is Susan the orchestra?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
What else have you written?
JONATHAN
A lot of plays, sir. Mother and I used to write little plays. I don't write
many any more.
NATHANIEL
Why not?
JONATHAN
I'm getting too big.
NATHANIEL
Do you ever write anything beside plays?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
That's splendid. Stories?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir.... And I've written some po--poetry.
NATHANIEL
Excellent!
JONATHAN
They're not very good, but Susan always wants me to write the poetry for
the music.
[_Aunt Letitia has repacked the trunk and locked it. She sees that
Nathaniel and Jonathan are getting on famously._
LETITIA
I'll go to the house now and you can talk to Jonathan, Nathaniel.
[_Jonathan looks appealingly at Letitia, but with a smile she goes
downstairs._
_Jonathan and Nathaniel look at each other for an embarrassed minute, then
Jonathan takes refuge at his theatre._
NATHANIEL
May I see some of your plays?
JONATHAN
Do you really want to see them?
NATHANIEL
Yes.
[_Jonathan goes to a box on the piano in which there are many manuscripts
carefully bound. He hands one to Nathaniel._
JONATHAN
Here is one that mother and I wrote. She loved the theatre.
NATHANIEL (_taking the strange-looking little manuscript._ _Reading_:)
"Robin Hood and His Merry Men."
JONATHAN
We used to make all those old stories into plays.
NATHANIEL
Do you like to write?
JONATHAN
Oh, yes. I wish I could write real plays, but there's no one to help me
now. My mother used to correct them and tell me what was wrong. She knew a
lot about the theatre and she used to tell me all sorts of things. But now
Aunt Letitia doesn't say anything. Sometimes she comes to a show, but she
can't help me. And Uncle John doesn't like the theatre. He thinks I'm too
old to give shows, but I can't help it. There's nothing I like so much.
NATHANIEL
May I read this some time?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir.... Would you like to see it played?
NATHANIEL
I want to see them all.
JONATHAN
Forty-one of them?
NATHANIEL
Forty-one of them! Where do you keep them all?
JONATHAN
Here in this box.
[_He shows all the manuscripts._
NATHANIEL
What are the pink ones?
JONATHAN
Those are the ones mother liked best and these--(_showing blue ones_) are
the ones I liked best.... I like them all now, but it used to be lots of
fun to choose our favorites.
NATHANIEL
What is this one that's different from all the rest?
JONATHAN
That's one that mother wrote all by herself. It's best of all.
NATHANIEL
You must save these carefully, Jonathan--all your life.
JONATHAN
Oh, yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
Some day you may be proud of them.
JONATHAN
See--she wrote this, and I wrote this. I was a bad writer, wasn't I?
NATHANIEL
What do you want to do, Jonathan?
JONATHAN
You mean what do I want to be?
NATHANIEL
Yes.
JONATHAN
I want to write plays.
NATHANIEL
Is that all?
JONATHAN
Well, I'd like to run a theatre.
NATHANIEL
What else?
JONATHAN
I'd--you won't tell anyone, will you?
NATHANIEL
Of course not.
JONATHAN
You see, Uncle John wants me to go to Somerset School to study engineering
and learn the business.
NATHANIEL
And you don't want to--Is that it?
JONATHAN
I'd rather be a writer.
NATHANIEL
They say you can't make any money at writing.
JONATHAN
That's what Uncle John says, but I want to just the same.
NATHANIEL
If you follow John's advice, you'll be a rich man.
JONATHAN
I'd rather be poor. What would you do, Uncle Nathaniel?
NATHANIEL
I--why I'd--Oh, come now, Jonathan--you know John is the head of the Clay
family and you and he must decide this question.
JONATHAN
Wouldn't you want to be what you want to be?
NATHANIEL
Perhaps I should.
JONATHAN
I don't see how anyone can decide what you want to be--no matter how old he
is.
NATHANIEL
Have you ever talked to John?
JONATHAN
Oh, yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
What did he say?
JONATHAN
He said I had to study engineering or go to work in the factory next fall
for good.
NATHANIEL
What do you want to do?
JONATHAN
I want to go to a fine prep school and then to college and then--
NATHANIEL
Then what?
JONATHAN
I want to be an actor!!
NATHANIEL
I see.
JONATHAN
Don't tell anybody.
NATHANIEL
I won't. That's pretty far from engineering, isn't it?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir. But everybody can't be alike. You and Uncle John aren't anything
alike.
NATHANIEL
And we're brothers, too.
JONATHAN
Do you ever get all mixed up and don't know what to do?
NATHANIEL
Oh, yes. I think everybody does.
JONATHAN
What do you do then?
NATHANIEL
I do something very silly.
JONATHAN
Do you do silly things, too?
NATHANIEL
Yes. I'm afraid I do.
JONATHAN
What do you do when you get all mixed up?
NATHANIEL
I'll tell you--it might not work with everybody, you know--but it works
with me.
JONATHAN
Yes, sir!
NATHANIEL
My mother used to sing me a song called--"There is a green hill far away."
I always liked that song because it gave me a feeling of contentment and
happiness. I imagined that I could see that hill with its pleasant green
slopes and at its foot lay a little cottage all cool and pleasant and open
to the winds. There were no locks and bolts to keep one out or to keep one
in. I used to imagine that I was climbing that hill to the top of the world
and when I reached the summit I could see--
JONATHAN (_enthralled_)
I know--the whole wide world.
NATHANIEL
Its very bigness made me happy in my imagination.... Then when I grew up
and heavy troubles came to me I remembered the Green Hill Far Away and one
day I found such a hill and I climbed it--clear to the top--and there below
me lay the world--the whole wide world--and I told the world something then
and felt the better for it.... Jonathan, there is nothing like a hilltop to
make a man feel worth while.
JONATHAN
I know what you mean.... But I always want to jump when I look down from
any place, do you?
NATHANIEL
I suppose everybody does.
JONATHAN
Uncle John thinks every boy ought to be alike.
NATHANIEL
Many schools used to think that way.
JONATHAN
But boys don't all think the same. They're different just like men, only
they don't know so much.
NATHANIEL
Perhaps not.
JONATHAN
Uncle John won't let me put on long pants until I'm fifteen.
NATHANIEL
He let me put them on when I was fifteen, too.
JONATHAN
Were you as tall as I am?
NATHANIEL
Just about the same height, but my legs were like pipe stems and I was very
much ashamed.
JONATHAN
So am I.
NATHANIEL
You'll forget all about it after you're fifteen.
JONATHAN
I can talk to you like I used to talk to my mother.
NATHANIEL
Thank you. We're going to be fine friends, aren't we?
JONATHAN
You bet. Is it silly for me to like to write plays?
NATHANIEL
Why do you ask that?
JONATHAN
Because Uncle John says it's silly.
NATHANIEL
Well, it all depends upon the way you look at it, Jonathan. The world has
never been able to agree as to what is and what is not silly. Mr. Browning,
the poet, might have considered hooks and eyes the silliest things in the
world; but to Mr. de Long, they were, no doubt, the most important things
in the world. Many men agree with Mr. Browning and many ladies agree with
Mr. de Long.
JONATHAN
That's what I think.
NATHANIEL
You and I probably have many thoughts in common.
[_Susan and Mlle. Perrault enter. Mlle. Perrault is a Frenchwoman of
exquisite grace and poise. She speaks English fluently, but with a charming
accent and an occasional Gallic phrase larding her pleasant sentences. Her
entrance into the room is electric. She has already won Susan._
MLLE. PERRAULT
Ah, there you are, Mr. Nathaniel Clay. I met la belle Susanne in the
roadway and she told me you were in the lumber room in the carriage house
and I say to her, "We shall track him to his lair." Besides, I want to see
what a lumber room is.
NATHANIEL
I was hiding from you.
MLLE. PERRAULT
Villain! And this is Jonathan. How do you do? Susanne tells me you write
poetry and she writes music and she promise me that you will sing for me.
JONATHAN
I can't sing.
MLLE. PERRAULT
Ah! Susanne tell me you have a theatre and you write plays and paint
scenery and write poetry and sing songs and she say if I come here to the
lumber room in the carriage house you will play me a tragedy and sing me a
song.
JONATHAN
Yes, ma'am.
NATHANIEL
Having introduced yourself to everybody, will you tell me, Susan, how Mlle.
Perrault learned so much in such a little time?
SUSAN
Well, I was waiting for Jonathan to call me.
JONATHAN
Oh, I forgot.
MLLE. PERRAULT
She was sitting like a little fairy in the grass by the roadway, and I stop
my car and ask for Mr. Nathaniel Clay and she say you are here in the
lumber room in the carriage house and she tell me many things--because we
like each other very, very much and we walk very, very slowly.
NATHANIEL
Now! Now that you know all about Miss Susan Sample and Mr. Jonathan--(_He
realizes he doesn't know Jonathan's second name_) I think I shall introduce
you by your pen name, Jonathan--Mr. Alexander Jefferson, Sr.
(_To Mlle. Perrault_)
I am going to let them know about you. This, lady and gentleman, is Mlle.
Marthe Perrault of Paris, France. Mlle. Perrault, may I present my friend
Susan and my nephew Jonathan?
MLLE. PERRAULT (_falling into the mood_)
I am very, very pleased to see you again, Miss Sample. It is a great
pleasure to have the honor of meeting you, Mr. Alexander Jefferson, Sr. I
am looking forward to the premiere of your great tragedy, _Zenobia_, of
which Miss Sample has been telling me.
SUSAN (_Puts her arms about Mlle. Perrault and Jonathan is uncertain
whether to be happy or afraid_)
He wrote lots of others, too.
JONATHAN
Forty-one.
NATHANIEL
I think I'll tell you two a secret. (_Susan pricks up her ears_) Do you
like secrets?
SUSAN
Yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
And can you keep them?
SUSAN
Oh, yes, sir.
NATHANIEL
Well, some day Mlle. Perrault is going to be my wife.
[_He kisses Mlle. Perrault's hand._
_Mlle. Perrault shows her engagement ring._
SUSAN
When?
NATHANIEL
Very soon. She is here on some war work and when she and her father go
back to France I shall follow and we shall be married.
SUSAN
Ooh--
NATHANIEL
Now you mustn't tell.
SUSAN
Honest.
JONATHAN
No, sir!
MLLE. PERRAULT
Now, we have a secret. And you are going to sing me a little song.
SUSAN
Come on, Jonathan. Let's do the new one.
JONATHAN
Well, I'll try.
[_He is quite miserable with stage-fright._
_Susan sits at the piano and plays a chord. Then Jonathan begins to sing
with much fear in his voice._
JONATHAN (_singing_)
All on a summer's day,
With flowers by the way,
A fair young prince and his purple knight
Found a princess at her play.
So by the crescent moon
He asked a royal boon
And sat him down on a soft green knoll--
And the night-time came too soon.
MLLE. PERRAULT
Oh, that is just like a little French peasant song! How does it go?
La--la--la--la--la--la.
[_Susan begins to play it again._
_Jonathan sings more surely than before._
_Slowly Mlle. Perrault falls into the rhythm and very simply dances a
little peasant dance to Jonathan's and Susan's song. The two youngsters are
in the seventh heaven of delight._
So--when one is very happy or very sad, he makes a song and when he's very,
very happy, he dances. And when he is very, very, very unhappy he dies. You
see, _I_ am very, very happy. When do you play _Zenobia_, Mr. Jefferson,
Sr.?
JONATHAN
I'll have it ready tomorrow, maybe tonight.
NATHANIEL
We shall have a season ticket. But now, I want you to meet my blessed Aunt
Letitia. She hasn't changed one bit in all these years.
MLLE. PERRAULT
To Aunt Letitia then. Good-bye, Jonathan. Tomorrow is the day of the great
premiere.
JONATHAN (_awkwardly_)
Thanks.
MLLE. PERRAULT
And la belle petite Susanne, au revoir.
SUSAN
I'll walk with you part of the way.
MLLE. PERRAULT
Very well. Marchons, marchons....
[_They go out._
NATHANIEL (_holding back a little_)
Good-bye, Mr. Manager.
[_He goes out calling_ "Marthe."
_Jonathan is left alone in his joy_. _As he stands, a strange, aimless,
vacuous whistling is heard outside the window an though from one ambling
by. Jonathan hears it unconsciously, moves to put his plays away,
alternately whistling and singing "All on a summer's day."_
_Presently the whistling of the strange air is heard as though coming from
downstairs. It stops and a voice calls out_ "Hi!"
JONATHAN
Who is it?
VOICE
It's me.
JONATHAN
What do you want?
[_By this time the Voice has become a person in the shape of Hank, one of
the scum of creation who asks nothing of life and gives nothing. He was
born of woman and he grew into man's form, but one looking at him wonders
how he survived dirt and the mere effort of breathing. He is stoutish with
no marked coloring unless it be a cross between khaki and field-gray.
Weather and time have conspired to render him inconspicuous. When he speaks
his voice is produced with a careful effort to conserve energy. When he
walks it seems to be a movement in answer to prayer rather than a physical
fact._
HANK
Say--
JONATHAN
How'd you get in here?
HANK
Well, it's this way, you see. The gate was open out there and this looked
pretty fine to me so I come in.
JONATHAN
You'd better go away before my uncle sees you.
HANK
Look here, young feller, I ain't goin' a-do no harm.
JONATHAN
Well, he doesn't allow strangers on the place.
HANK
I jus' come in to ask if I could sleep somewhere around here if I worked
for my sleep and grub.
JONATHAN
No, he won't let you.
HANK
How do you know he won't?
JONATHAN
'Cause it's a rule.
[_Hank whistles a snatch of the strange air and sits down._
HANK
Where's your pa?
JONATHAN
He's dead.
HANK
Long?
JONATHAN
Ten years ago.
HANK
How old are you?
JONATHAN
Fourteen.
HANK
Your pa died when you were four. So did mine.
JONATHAN
Did you ever have an uncle?
HANK
How many you got?
JONATHAN
I got two living and one dead.
HANK
All three of mine's dead.
[_He whistles a snatch of the strange air and takes a chew of tobacco._
Where's your ma?
JONATHAN (_Is about to become impatient, but an innate tolerance causes him
to answer_)
She died when I was twelve.
HANK
So did mine. (_Whistles_) We're alike in lots of ways, ain't we?
JONATHAN
What did you do when your mother died?
HANK
I felt pretty sorry.
JONATHAN
Did your brothers and sisters help you any?
HANK
Have you any brothers and sisters?
JONATHAN
No--
HANK
Me neither. (_Whistles casually_) No one took no notice of me.
JONATHAN
What'd you do?
HANK
I went away.
JONATHAN
Why didn't you try to work?
HANK
Couldn't find nothing suitable. 'T first I felt sort o' worried an' then I
kep' walkin' on and I seen so much trouble where I went I says to myself,
"Hank, you're lucky," I says. "You ain't got no fam'ly to bother you an'
you ain't got nothing to worry you an' you don't have to get no place in
partic'lar and you don't have to stay no place." A man wot's got a wife's
all the time worrying about her health or her money spendin' or her gaddin'
or her naggin'. An' a man w'ots got a fam'ly's always wondering where
they'll end. An' a man's wot's got a home's all time worrying about keepin'
it locked up. I bet the poor nut wot owns this place can't breathe easy for
bein' scared things'll be took or burnt up. W'y you--look at
you--(_Whistles_) You're wishin' I'd go 'cause you're 'fraid I'll take
somethin'. I won't take nothin', young feller, 'cause I don't need nothin'
now and I won't need nothin' till it's cold again--and then I'll git an
overcoat maybe. It's too much trouble takin' things--'cause you have to
carry 'em. (_Whistles_) You goin' to let me sleep here some place?
JONATHAN
I can't. My uncle would drive you away. Maybe he'd have you arrested.
HANK
I ain't done nothin'. I ain't hurtin' nobody.
JONATHAN
Well, he doesn't allow strangers around.
HANK (_Whistles. At the window_)
That's where I went by jus' now.
JONATHAN
I heard you whistling.
HANK
That's a tune I made up once. (_Whistles_)
JONATHAN
Do you make up tunes?
HANK
That's the only one I ever done. It comes in handy and it don't hurt no
one.
[_Jonathan unconsciously tries to whistle a phrase of the tune._
HANK
No, that ain't it. It's this way.
[_Whistles._
_Jonathan tries it again and fails._
No. Here.
_Jonathan makes it this time._
HANK
That's it. Say, what you got these bars for? It's like jail. Are they
afraid you'll jump out on them rocks?
JONATHAN
No, I guess not. There isn't much danger of my wanting to jump out.
HANK
You never can tell for sure, young feller.
JONATHAN
It's to keep people from climbing in.
HANK
There ain't no bars over that one. (_Pointing to gable window_)
JONATHAN
That's too high.
HANK
It'd be like fallin' off the top of a house, wouldn't it?
[_Whistles._
_Jonathan whistles "All on a Summer's Day."_
HANK
What you got there?
JONATHAN
That's my theatre.
HANK
A show?
JONATHAN
Yes.
HANK
How does it work?
JONATHAN
These are the actors.
HANK
What's the string fer?
JONATHAN
You put him in a groove and pull him.
HANK
Lemme see it.
JONATHAN
All right. I'll show you a scene from the play I'm going to play for my
Uncle Nathaniel tomorrow.
HANK
Fire away.
[_Jonathan lights the lamps that are back of the screen and pulls the
blinds or some cover over the barred windows._
HANK
I wouldn't have all this junk if you'd give it to me. No, sir, when I move
I carry my house with me and there ain't much o' that now. (_Indicates his
clothes_)
JONATHAN
All ready. Now you sit there.
[_Places Hank on the bench._
_He goes behind the screen and taps some bells._
HANK
What's that fer?
JONATHAN
That's to get ready.
HANK
Well, I'm ready.
[_Jonathan opens the curtain and discloses a scene from Zenobia._
That's beautiful. It's just like real.
[_Jonathan pulls a figure across the stage._
Hello, old man. That's the one I jus' seen. Where's the string?
[_Jonathan lifts the string._
JONATHAN
Here it is.
HANK
Now where's that feller goin' to?
JONATHAN (_coming out from behind the screen_)
Well, you see, _Zenobia_--
HANK
_Zenob_--God, what a name!
JONATHAN
They used to have names like that.
HANK
How d' you do it?
JONATHAN
Look, I'll show you a little.
[_He goes behind the screen and closes the curtain._
HANK
What you doin' that for? I like to see that picture.
JONATHAN
I'm going to show you how I do it.
[_Jonathan rings the bells._
HANK
All right. I'm ready. Let her go.
[_Jonathan opens the curtain and pulls a character on, then another._
JONATHAN (_in assumed voice_)
"Hail, noble duke."
"All is well, I ween."